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seventhswan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
That said, this was definitely my least-favourite book of Rooney's three currently-published novels. In Normal People and Beautiful World, I liked or at least sympathised with the main characters; here I spent most of the book actively hating them, and Frances' voice grated on me throughout. This still represents considerable skill in writing, and I'm not averse to an unlikeable narrator in the slightest, but it did weaken my emotional investment in most of the story.
Or so I thought, until I got to the final chapter, and promptly threw the book at the wall, which is not something I believed people actually did until now. Have I been Frances? Absolutely! Did that make me want to give her head a wobble any less? Absolutely not!
Overall, then, I wouldn't say I enjoyed CwF in the same way that I got genuine delight from parts of Normal People and Beautiful World, but I'm glad I read it, even if a lot of what I liked about it was the smug self-satisfaction that I'm Not Frances Any More.
Graphic: Infidelity, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Chronic illness, Self harm, and Sexual content
Minor: Alcoholism, Sexual violence, and Vomit
zoe_vdv's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
nineinchnails's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Infidelity and Mental illness
Moderate: Chronic illness, Classism, Medical content, Self harm, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit
Body dysmorphiasandy_panini's review against another edition
Graphic: Infidelity and Toxic friendship
xosevenusagbadan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Sexual content, Blood, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Infidelity, Medical trauma, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Grief, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Eating disorder, and Classism
Minor: Cursing, Sexism, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, and Miscarriage
ruth_power's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Biphobia, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Racism, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Homophobia, Alcoholism, Sexism, and Infidelity
jmflint27's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Not enjoying or liking it is subjective. In many ways I found this really difficult to read - I should’ve known better as I struggle with one of the main themes in the book (infidelity). But that being said - I wasn’t prepared for how unlikeable the characters would be beyond this theme. I constantly wanted to slap them upside the head or shake them silly, and the whiny internal monologue of the narrator is painful at times.
But all of that being said - there’s something beautiful about it. Even though I really didn’t like the way the dialogue was written (no quotation marks were used), the wit and thought behind them was clearly there. Rooney clearly knows how to write and describes things in a way that really shake you to your core and almost make you feel intense amounts of empathy for even the most selfish of people.
Generally I had really mixed feelings and am proud of myself for finishing the book - there were times I didn’t want to.
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Infidelity, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Self harm
djenkin96's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I did like the relevant topics And The nod to endometriosis.However I Feel the author glazed over a large amount of obvious body image issues and an eating disorder ?
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Infertility, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Mental illness, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Eating disorder, Medical content, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual content
hello_lovely13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Sexual content, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Self harm
Moderate: Mental illness, Alcoholism, Toxic friendship, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Chronic illness and Miscarriage
kashrae99's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Cursing, Mental illness, Infidelity, Alcohol, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Sexual content, Alcoholism, Medical content, Blood, Chronic illness, and Classism
Minor: Infertility and Vomit